BOSTON — John Axford had been with the St. Louis Cardinals only a few weeks before they clinched a playoff spot. Axford, a veteran reliever, decided then that it was time to learn more about his new team. He searched YouTube and found old World Series clips, including Bob Gibson closing out the Boston Red Sox here in 1967.

“I wanted to take in all those moments, sort of engulf myself in the lore of Cardinal history,” Axford said Tuesday. “That’s one of the biggest things, that there’s something bigger than yourself. There’s a history here.”

Axford was referring to the Cardinals, whose 11 titles trail only the Yankees among major league teams. But he could have just as easily meant Fenway Park, or the larger context of the rivalry between the Cardinals and the Red Sox.

This World Series, which starts Wednesday with St. Louis’s Adam Wainwright facing Boston’s Jon Lester, is just the latest chapter.

“The fact that the Cardinals and the Red Sox have faced off four times now, there’s a reason for it,” said David Freese, the Cardinals’ third baseman. “Two great organizations going at it. Nothing better.”

The Cardinals won in seven games in 1946 and 1967. The Red Sox blitzed the Cardinals in four straight in 2004, riding an emotional high from their stirring playoff comeback against the Yankees. Only two players from that World Series — the Cardinals’ Yadier Molina and the Red Sox’ David Ortiz — will take part in this one.

Mike Matheny, the St. Louis manager, was the Cardinals’ starting catcher then. He actually made the cover of Sports Illustrated during the World Series, sliding under a gliding Mark Bellhorn, the victim of a double play. The Cardinals never held a lead in the series.

“We just couldn’t stop them,” Matheny said. “It was a lesson learned. Not that our team at that point was half-stepping, or we weren’t prepared, but we just hadn’t been hit like that all season long, so it was a little bit of a shocker.

“What that translates into now is a lot like we talked about last year, standing in San Francisco in Game 7 and watching those guys celebrate, realizing how quickly it can get away from you.” Matheny was referring to the three-games-to-one lead that the Cardinals squandered in the 2012 National League Championship Series. “I think that’s the message we have again this year: just the urgency, first pitch.”

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David Ortiz, left, played first base for Boston when the Series moved to St. Louis in 2004, and he will be there again this weekend.Credit
Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Matheny and his players took a lot of questions Tuesday about the so-called Cardinal Way, the operating instructions for an organization that has now reached four World Series, with two championships, in the last 10 years. The Red Sox, though, have won three pennants in that stretch, also with two titles.

“We look to be relentless in every aspect of the game,” Red Sox Manager John Farrell said. “And that’s a mind-set, an attitude we’ve worked hard at creating. I think that attitude has allowed us to come back from so many deficits this year and never give an at-bat away.”

This is the first World Series since 1999 in which each team had the best record in its league. Both teams wrapped up their league championship series in six games, so the long-layoff factor, which has stifled some teams’ momentum in recent World Series, will not apply.

Both teams have a longtime, dynamic October run producer in the middle of their order — Ortiz for the Red Sox and Carlos Beltran, who had never escaped the National League playoffs, for the Cardinals. Both teams have lockdown bullpens and starters with swing-and-miss stuff, an element the Cardinals did not have in 2004.

The Cardinals will welcome Allen Craig back to their lineup as the designated hitter, after having been without him since his foot injury in early September. They will introduce their star rookie, Michael Wacha, to the World Series stage in Game 2 against John Lackey.

Wacha was the most valuable player of the N.L.C.S., beating the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw twice without allowing a run. The Red Sox’ M.V.P. against Detroit was closer Koji Uehara, who had a win and three saves. None of the Red Sox have faced Wacha, and no Cardinal but Beltran has faced Uehara.

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“I can’t tell you what Uehara’s split looks like,” St. Louis’s Matt Holliday said. “I can watch it on TV and tell you it looks nasty. But you’ve got to get out there and see it for yourself.”

Now they are ready to do that, and with so many championships lately, the winner will face a tough decision: a new theme for its ring. The Red Sox designed their 2004 ring with a B logo on the face, and their next ring with the hanging-socks logo. The Cardinals put their cap logo on their 2006 ring, and used a bird-on-bat logo for 2011.

What next? All teams would envy such concerns, but only so many can be modern baseball royalty.

“Initially, I was just excited to be in the World Series,” said the Cardinals’ closer, Trevor Rosenthal. “When you learn we’re playing the Red Sox, it’s kind of what we’ve been dreaming of. Getting to play a World Series at Fenway — I don’t think there is much I can compare to that in the baseball world.”

THEY LOVE L.A. This World Series matchup very well would not have happened without the local cable contracts in Southern California. The Angels, flush with cash from a deal with Fox, showered $240 million on the Cardinals’ Albert Pujols after the 2011 season. The Cardinals chose Michael Wacha with their compensatory draft pick, and they parceled out the savings from Pujols’s rejection to re-sign Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright and sign Carlos Beltran. Seeking stars for their new TV deal, the Dodgers bailed out the Red Sox in August 2012 by trading for Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, three stars with sinkhole contracts who had grown miserable in Boston. With more than $260 million off their books in one deal, the Red Sox reset their roster by signing seven free agents (Ryan Dempster, Stephen Drew, Jonny Gomes, Mike Napoli, David Ross, Koji Uehara and Shane Victorino) without committing more than $39 million to any of them.

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St. Louis, Busch Stadium’s city, will host World Series games for the fourth time in 10 years. The Red Sox finished their 2004 sweep there.Credit
David J. Phillip/Associated Press

RUNNING GAME Only three teams stole more bases than the Red Sox, who succeeded on 123 of 142 attempts in the regular season. They just kept running through the playoffs, swiping 11 bases in 13 attempts. But Yadier Molina is probably the best in the majors at shutting down the running game. Opponents attempted just three steals (two successfully) in the playoffs off Molina.

STYLISH BIRDS As they seek another World Series victory, the Cardinals have already claimed one crown this year: Uni Watch ranked their uniforms first among all teams in baseball, the N.F.L., the N.B.A. and the N.H.L. “M.L.B.’s best-looking team looks even better this season,” wrote Paul Lukas, “thanks to the addition of that great retro-style alternate jersey.” The Cardinals wear the alternate “St. Louis” jerseys on home Saturdays, which means they should wear them for Game 3. The best-dressed of all is the veteran reliever Randy Choate, who wears old-style striped stirrups to accentuate the Cardinals’ classic look.

FINISHING TOUCH The last three World Series involving the Red Sox (1986, 2004 and 2007) have all ended on the road. The last three involving the Cardinals (2004, 2006 and 2011) have all ended in St. Louis. No World Series has ended at Fenway Park since Carl Yastrzemski flied to Cesar Geronimo for the last out of Game 7 against Cincinnati in 1975.

DESIGNATED HEADACHE The Red Sox will lose one of the most productive hitters in their lineup for the games in St. Louis, where the designated hitter is not used. David Ortiz and Mike Napoli play no other position besides first base, so one will have to sit for each game. Manager John Farrell has said Ortiz will start in St. Louis, but he did not know for how many games. “Personally, when we go into National League ballparks, I think we’re at a greater disadvantage than the reverse,” Farrell said. The Yankees faced a similar problem in 2009, with Hideki Matsui limited to D.H. duties, but Matsui was so productive in his starts and pinch-hitting appearances that he was named M.V.P.

GLOVEMAN Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma had a .275 on-base percentage and a .273 slugging percentage this season, for a startlingly low .548 O.P.S. The last National Leaguer with a lower O.P.S. in at least 140 games was Rafael Belliard of the 1992 Atlanta Braves. Belliard was also a shortstop for the N.L. champions, but he batted only once in the World Series. Kozma, an exceptional defender, has started 8 of the Cardinals’ 11 playoff games this fall.

THREE SCORE Just as there are two extra umpires for postseason games, there are also two extra official scorers for the World Series. For Game 1 this year, the official scorers are a writer from Boston, Mike Shalin; a writer from St. Louis, Rick Hummel; and, for the first time, a writer from Japan — Gaku Tashiro of Sankei Sports, who was also the first Japanese reporter to cast a ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

OTHER GAME IN TOWN Football likes to boast of its prominence among sports fans, but in St. Louis, baseball is king. That should come into sharp focus Monday night, when Game 5 (if necessary) takes place just a few blocks from the Rams-Seahawks game at the Edward Jones Dome. It won’t be the first time the Red Sox have played a road World Series game in a market hosting “Monday Night Football.” On Oct. 27, 1986, as the Mets were beating Boston in Game 7, the Giants hosted the Redskins at the Meadowlands. (The Giants overcame 420 passing yards from Jay Schroeder, a former Toronto Blue Jays farmhand, in a 27-20 victory.)

RESPLENDENT IN RED The Masters has the green jacket and the Pro Football Hall of Fame has the gold jacket. In baseball, the most distinctive sports coat is the red jacket worn by the Cardinals’ Hall of Famers on the field before World Series games. Expect some combination of Red Schoendienst, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith and Bruce Sutter in those jackets at Busch.

SPREADING THE WEALTH There are 32 major leaguers with contracts (current or future) worth at least $100 million. Just two of those players are in this series: Matt Holliday of the Cardinals, who is finishing the fourth year of a seven-year, $120 million deal, and Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox, who signed an eight-year, $110 million extension in July that runs through 2021.

COMMON ALUMNI Besides J. D. Drew, Reggie Smith and Tony Pena, relatively few players have spent lots of time with both teams. But plenty of players who figured prominently for one team made a cameo for the other. Tim McCarver, who caught the final strikeout from Bob Gibson to clinch the 1967 World Series for the Cardinals at Fenway Park, later played briefly for Boston. Bernie Carbo, whose Game 6 homer in the 1975 World Series was less famous but more important than Carlton Fisk’s, had two stints with St. Louis. Mike Torrez, who served up Bucky Dent’s homer in the 1978 A.L. East playoff game, started his career with the Cardinals. Rich Gedman, who could not corral the wild pitch that tied Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, ended his with St. Louis. Willie McGee (who played briefly for Boston near the end of his career) made the final out of the 1987 World Series for the Cardinals, who did not return until 2004, when Edgar Renteria bounced to Keith Foulke to clinch the title for the Red Sox. Renteria then spent one forgettable season at Fenway before finding glory as the San Francisco Giants’ M.V.P. in the 2010 World Series.

A version of this article appears in print on October 23, 2013, on Page B11 of the New York edition with the headline: Red All Over (Except for the Green Monster). Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe